statism watch

Now it really hits the fan.

Flashback: Harper grilled over prorogation, Afghan detainee torture documents | MP threatens motion on Afghan documents | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Claims troops mistreated prisoners unfounded: military police | Peter MacKay, Red Cross discussed detainees in 2006 | Canada’s troops investigated for Afghan abuse | Colvin disputes witnesses’ detainee testimony | Tories sabotage Afghan committee meeting | Canada ‘defended’ torturer | Ottawa won’t release Afghan torture documents | Top general’s Afghan detainee reversal hikes pressure for public inquiry | Richard Colvin’s Afghan torture memos reveal government concealed prisoner access issues | Torture claims unreliable, officials say, despite having found evidence of torture | MPs vote public inquiry into Afghan detainees, Tories ignore majority motion | Torture claims weren’t probed, official testified | Harper government changes tune on Afghan prisoner issue | Colvin’s testimony true: former Afghan MP | David Mulroney testifies war confused issue of torture | Hillier says he saw no credible reports of torture | Afghan torture emails reached MacKay’s office | Opposition wants documentation prior to government torture rebuttal, PM cries foul | Canadian officials discussed torture in 2006 | Canada shamed on Afghan prisoner torture | Canada ignored torture warnings: Diplomat | Military lawyer stonewalls on Afghan torture claims | Ottawa was warned Afghan detainees might be tortured | Military commission suspends torture hearings, gags witness | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Federal court limits Afghan detainee torture probe | Watchdog rejects government bid to delay Afghan detainee inquiry | Ottawa moves to block Afghanistan detainee torture hearings again | Bid to Block Afghan Detainee Inquiry Slammed | What Ottawa doesn’t want you to know: Government was told detainees faced ‘extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial’

CBC News
March 5, 2010

Unredacted documents show officials hoped to gather intelligence, expert says

University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran says Canadian officials intentionally handed over Afghan detainees to be tortured in order to gather intelligence. (CBC)

Federal government documents on Afghan detainees suggest that Canadian officials intended some prisoners to be tortured in order to gather intelligence, according to a legal expert.

If the allegation is true, such actions would constitute a war crime, said University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran, who has been digging deep into the issue and told CBC News he has seen uncensored versions of government documents released last year.

“If these documents were released [in full], what they will show is that Canada partnered deliberately with the torturers in Afghanistan for the interrogation of detainees,” he said.

“There would be a question of rendition and a question of war crimes on the part of certain Canadian officials. That’s what’s in these documents, and that’s why the government is covering up as hard as it can.”

Detainee abuse became the subject of national debate last year after heavily redacted versions of the documents were made public after Attaran filed an access to information request. They revealed the Canadian military was not monitoring detainees who had been transferred from Canadian to Afghan custody. It was later alleged that some of those detainees were being mistreated.

Until now, the controversy has centred on whether the government turned a blind eye to abuse of Afghan detainees.

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It’s interesting how quickly the plight of children occurs to the state when the outcome is to remove rights and accrue centralized power – and how slow any recognition of children’s suffering is when the necessary outcome must be to detach, decentralize, and withdraw. Witness Canada’s residential schools, the eagerness of Children’s Protective Services in the US to fulfill their quotas by snatching kids from families with a dirty dish in the sink nevermind the continuing rampant abuse in state custody, the Thalidomide apology – only fifty years late, the use of children as a pretext to treat everyone online as some potential paedophile by implementing filters and restricting anonymity, etc., etc. Of course, none of that matters if you’re putting a child through a naked body scanner, which breaks UK law. Children are treated as our pawns, empty vessels onto which we project all the grotesque evil of our adult world. They cannot help but reflect this back to us psychologically – and in some cases physically. It is,literally, heartbreaking.

The Daily Mail
March 4, 2010

Fatima Ahmed, born after the assault in Fallujah, has deformities that include two heads.

A high number of children are being born with birth defects in an Iraqi city where U.S. forces may have used chemical weapons during a fierce battle in 2004.

Children in Fallujah are being born with limb, head, heart and nervous system defects. There is even a claim that a baby was born with three heads.

The number of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than the rate in Europe.

The city, 40 miles west of Baghdad, was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq war in late 2004. U.S. Marines led Operation Phantom Fury to recapture it from insurgents.

British troops were involved in manning checkpoints on the outskirts of the city as the Americans went in. The U.S. has admitted that it used white phosphorus in the attack, but only as an illumination device.

Under international law it is illegal if used as an offensive weapon. America has never given a clear response to claims it also used depleted uranium weapons against the insurgents, such as ‘bunkerbuster’ bombs. Both types of weapons can contaminate crops and water supplies.

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It’s worth recalling that drones are increasingly being brought online for civilian policing in Western nations as well. How long before they’re armed? The Canadian armed forces recently released a report painting a picture of a dystopian future, with drones flying overhead, a military draft, and ’sleeper cells’ staging terror attacks on the domestic front.

Flashback: UK Police use spy drone for first domestic arrest – without airspace clearance | Future police: Meet the UK’s armed robot drones | UK police plan to use military-style spy drones | US Domestic Espionage Alert: Spy Drone Discovered | Suspected US drone ‘kills 12′ in Pakistan | U.S. Military Joins CIA’s Drone War in Pakistan | US Air Force confirms new ‘Beast of Kandahar’ drone | Clinton confronted by Pakistanis over attacks by aerial drones | UN: Drone attacks may violate international law | Kandahar spy blimp raises privacy concerns | US drone ’shot down over Somalia’ | Canada’s military peers into future, sees drone patrols, draft, insurgency | 250-Foot Long Hybrid Airship Will Spy Over Afghanistan Battlefields in 2011 | Pakistan remains silent as U.S. air attack kills 80 | Military spycraft patrols Ontario border from Fort Drum | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | Homing chips are CIA’s latest weapon against ‘al-Qaida’ targets hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt | CIA: Our Drones are Killing Terrorists. Promise | 500,000 fleeing Pakistani airstrikes, fighting, UN reports | US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians | NATO denies air strike killed Afghan civilians | Pakistan is ‘abdicating to the Taliban,’ says Clinton | US military may escalate ‘war on terror’ by striking deeper into Pakistan | Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights | Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | U.S. set to launch Predator drones to monitor Manitoba border | Military Tech on the Home Front: Predator drones to begin surveillance of Canada-US border | Hoverdrone to be deployed to Iraq | Don’t-ask-don’t-tell Policy: Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes | Death toll climbs after U.S. air strike in Pakistan | US Incursion Turned Back by Pakistan Army | Bush secret order to send special forces into Pakistan | Pakistan fury over ‘US assault’ | Kids to Help Create Drones, ‘Fuzzy’ Line to Be Drawn between Military and Civil Spheres | Canadian military acquiring new helicopters, drones | Unmanned spy planes to police Britain | Austin police testing unmanned spy drones | Nunavut taken aback by military plan for drone patrols | U.S. to patrol Manitoba border with drone aircraft

Paul Joseph Watson, Prisonplanet.com
March 4, 2010

Thinktank report figures highlight increasing frequency of missile deaths

One out of every three people killed by unmanned US Predator drones in Pakistan is a civilian, according to a new report that highlights the collateral damage caused by the targeting of Taliban and “Al Qaeda” operatives with missiles.

The report by Washington think tank The New America Foundation has found that 32% of the more than 1,200 people killed since 2004 were innocent bystanders rather than dangerous terrorists.

The nonpartisan public policy institute based it’s research on media accounts from sources including the New York Times, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, CNN, the BBC, in addition to reports in the leading English-language newspapers in Pakistan, as well as coverage by the largest independent Pakistani television network.

“Our study shows that the 114 reported drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, including 18 in 2010, from 2004 to the present have killed approximately between 834 and 1,216 individuals,” the report by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann states.

“…around 549 to 849 were described as militants in reliable press accounts, about two-thirds of the total on average. Thus, the true civilian fatality rate since 2004 according to our analysis is approximately 32 percent.” the study concludes.

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In light of Mr. Finklestein’s revelations – revelations, that is, to those receiving their views of Israel’s military exploits through the nightly news – the Harper administration’s recent authoritarian attempt to stifle dissent and criticism of the Likudnic regime seems a little behind the curve.

Flashback: Israeli preparations for war with Iran troubling | The truth about the Mossad | Israel denies Gaza war crimes in report to UN | Chomsky says Israel, ‘US military base’ | Israel rules out Gaza probe | UN body endorses Gaza war crimes report | UN body debates Gaza war crimes report | A hostile takeover of Zionism | UN condemns ‘war crimes’ in Gaza | Israeli soldiers allege abuses against Palestinians | Israeli troops kill apartheid wall protester | Israeli military whistleblowers: troops fired on children | Israel pulls land forces from Gaza, gunboats continue shelling coast | Israel admits troops used phosphorus shells in Gaza | Israel steps up Gaza withdrawal after ceasefire | Hamas joins fragile Israeli ceasefire | Israel declares ceasefire | Unusually Large U.S. Weapons Shipment to Israel | Video shows proof of phosphorous bombs in Gaza | Aid destroyed as UN’s Gaza HQ hit by Israeli fire | Protests over Israel’s Gaza offensive held in Canadian, world cities | Israel ignores ceasefire plea, pounds Gaza | UN relief agency halts aid to Gaza, citing Israeli attacks on staff | Rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel | Israel is on its way to reoccupying all of the Gaza Strip | Israeli shelling kills dozens at UN school in Gaza | Tanks, rockets, death and terror: Gazan civilian catastrophe unfolding | They hate us for our bombs | Israeli army set for invasion | Food, medicine, fuel needed in Gaza, agencies warn | Gaza relief boat carrying former Congresswoman rammed by Israelis | Worldwide protests urge end to attacks on Gaza

Norman Finklestein, Counterpunch.org
March 3, 2010

Public outrage at the Gaza invasion did not come out of the blue but rather marked the nadir of a curve plotting a steady decline in support for Israel. As polling data of Americans and Europeans, both Gentiles and Jews, suggest, the public has become increasingly critical of Israeli policy over the past decade. The horrific images of death and destruction broadcast around the world during and after the invasion accelerated this development. “The increased and brutal frequency of war in this volatile region has shifted international opinion,” the British Financial Times editorialized one year later, “reminding Israel it is not above the law. Israel can no longer dictate the terms of debate.”

One poll registering the fallout from the Gaza attack in the United States found that American voters calling themselves supporters of Israel plummeted from 69 per cent before the attack to 49 per cent in June 2009, while voters believing that the U.S. should support Israel dropped from 69 per cent to 44 per cent. Consumed by hate, emboldened by self-righteousness, and confident that it could control or intimidate public opinion, Israel carried on in Gaza as if it could get away with mass murder in broad daylight. But while official Western support for Israel held firm, the carnage set off an unprecedented wave of popular outrage throughout the world. Whether it was because the assault came on the heels of the devastation Israel wrought in Lebanon, or because of Israel’s relentless persecution of the people of Gaza, or because of the sheer cowardice of the assault, the Gaza invasion appeared to mark a turning point in public opinion reminiscent of the international reaction to the 1960 Sharpeville massacre in apartheid South Africa.

In the Jewish diaspora official communal organizations with longstanding ties to Israel predictably lent blind support. But, at the same time, newly minted progressive Jewish organizations distanced themselves to a lesser or greater degree. Whereas in the past mainstream Jews actively supported Israeli wars, most registered ambivalence during the invasion, apart from a contracting older minority that came out swinging in Israel’s defense, and an expanding younger minority that scathingly denounced it. Between the increasing estrangement of younger Jews from Israeli bellicosity and the increasing qualms of Jews generally about supporting it, the Gaza massacre signaled the break-up of hitherto blanket Jewish support for Israeli wars. In addition, whereas the antiwar demonstrations in most Western countries were ethnically heterogeneous (including significant numbers of Jews), the “pro”-Israeli demonstrations were composed almost exclusively of Jews.
The fact that active opposition to Israeli policy, say, on college campuses, has spread beyond the Arab-Muslim core towards the mainstream, whereas active support for Israel has shrunk to a fraction of the ethnic Jewish core, is a telling indicator of where things are headed. The era of the “beautiful” Israel has passed, it seems irrevocably, and the disfigured Israel that in recent years has replaced it in the public consciousness is a growing embarrassment. It is not so much that Israel’s behavior is worse than it was before, but rather that the record of that behavior has, finally, caught up with it.

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Flashback: Obama threatens actions against Iran over nuclear program | UN sanctions urged over Iran’s uranium plans | Western powers voice scepticism over Iran uranium offer | U.S. deploys land and sea-based missile shield in the Gulf to deter attack from Iran | UK: Tony Blair attempts to shift focus to Iran as ‘global threat’ at Iraq war inquiry | Iran admits jailed protesters were beaten to death | Iranian commanders assassinated, Iran fingers Western intelligence | IAEA members question Iran nuclear intel authenticity | US military could strike Iran, but at what cost? | Another War in the Works | Iran to allow nuclear site inspection | Iran plays into Obama’s hands with disclosure of nuclear facility | UN approves nuclear ‘disarmament’ resolution | Tens of thousands march in Iran | Obama scales back missile defence shield in Europe | Israel ‘will attack Iran this year’ if West does not cripple Tehran with sanctions | Brookings Publication mentions possibility of ‘Horrific Provocation’ to Trigger Iran Invasion | Blast at Iranian mosque raises tensions in run-up to presidential election | Netanyahu: We may be forced to attack Iran | Proposed Missile Shield seen as Provocation by Russia | Neo-cons still preparing for Iran attack | Russia threatens to ’strike’ Poland in wake of U.S. missile plan | Cheney Considered False Flag Operation to Justify War with Iran | US scales up covert destabilization efforts in Iran, continues funding ‘al-Qaeda’ | Israelis ‘rehearse Iran attack’ | Israeli official says attack on Iran ‘unavoidable’ | Bush ‘plans Iran air strike by August’ | U.S. Navy starts exercises in Gulf waters | U.S. National Intelligence Estimate: Iran stopped nuclear weapons work in 2003 | Cheney Orders Media To Sell Attack On Iran | U.S. sending third aircraft carrier to the Middle East | US aircraft carriers in Persian Gulf | Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh: US Indirectly Funding Al-Qaeda Linked Sunni Groups in Move to Counter Iran | Former CIA Officer – US Plans Nuclear Attack On Iran

Aluf Benn, Haaretz
March 3, 2010

“Do not strike” is what the Americans are telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Let’s first try sanctions on Iran.”

“Do not strike” is what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is saying to Netanyahu. “If you go crazy and go to war, it will be the end of the Zionist regime.”

Netanyahu managed to convince the world that Israel is on the verge of a preemptive war to try to foil Iran’s nuclear program. His speeches on a second Holocaust and Amalek, the acceleration of military preparations, the exercises on the Home Front, the distribution of gas masks and even the stockpiling of dollars by the Bank of Israel all suggest that Israel is preparing to strike Iran, as it did when it attacked the nuclear plants in Iraq and Syria.

The preparations for war give Israel unprecedented international significance. U.S. President Barack Obama, who kept his distance at the beginning of his tenure, is now airlifting senior officials to ask Netanyahu to hold back. When he wanted to deal with the Palestinian problem, Obama made do with a retiree without authority in the form of George Mitchell.

It turns out that the Israeli threat to spark a regional war is bothering the administration a lot more than the occupation and the West Bank settlements. Not only are the politicians troubled, representatives of global investment firms are curious to know “when they will attack,” as a way of gambling on oil prices. It turns out that Israel’s economic significance is buried in its ability to cause trouble – not in high tech, start-ups or the Bamba snacks the Israelis pride themselves in.

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Flashback: Halifax apologizes for razing Africville | Tamils languish in Sri Lankan camps | UN chief flies into Sri Lanka as Tamils herded into camps | Quarter of a million Sri Lankans face two years in camps | Fisherman, 78, faces eviction to make room for container terminal | Beijing families forcibly relocated for Olympics

CBC News
February 26, 2010

‘Canadians are going to be in the thick of it,’ says Brig.-Gen. King

Officials in Kandahar province have begun humanitarian preparations in advance of fighting later this year, when NATO forces are expected to launch their most ambitious assault on Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan since 2001.

Kandahar’s governor, Tooryalai Wesa, said officials are stockpiling tents, medical supplies and food as he expects as many as 10,000 people may have to flee their homes when the fighting starts.

NATO and Afghan forces are entering their third week of fighting in nearby Helmand province, with 15,000 troops engaged in battle in an effort to reclaim the insurgent-held town of Marjah and the district of Nad Ali.

More than 2,800 families — averaging about five members each — have been displaced before and during the fighting, according to the Afghan Organization of Human Rights and Environmental Protection, an independent group.

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Flashback: Five civilians killed in Nato rocket attack in Afghanistan | NATO’s novel battle tactic spawns opposite effects as 12 civilians killed | German army chief resigns over Afghanistan air strike | NATO pledges probe of deadly Afghan air strike; civilians killed | Afghan Airstrike Video Goes Down the Memory Hole | New Afghan mission commander vows to protect civilians | US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians | NATO denies air strike killed Afghan civilians

Jon Boone, Matthew Weaver, The Guardian
February 22, 2010

Nato and Afghanistan government launch inquiry after planes fire on convoy of vehicles, killing at least 27 people

At least 27 civilians were killed in a Nato air strike in southern Afghanistan yesterday, prompting a furious response from Afghan officials. The airstrike – in which four women and a child are known to have died – brought a personal apology from General Stanley McChrystal, the Nato commander in Afghanistan, to the president, Hamid Karzai.

It added to growing anger over the number of civilian casualties in the Afghan conflict, and came hours after Karzai had urged Nato to do more to protect civilians.

In a statement, the Afghanistan council of ministers condemned the air strike as “unjustifiable”.

The cabinet said initial reports indicated that Nato had fired on a convoy of three vehicles, killing at least 27 people and injuring a further 12.

McChrystal spoke to Karzai yesterday to express his regret and promise an investigation.

“We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives,” he said.

“I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the Afghan people and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will redouble our effort to regain that trust.”

Syed Zahir Shah, the police chief of Kajran district, in Daikondi province, said he spent all day yesterday helping to recover body parts so they could be prepared for burial.

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In a background piece on the arrest, the BBC reports “Some quarters here indicate that the arrest may have been “orchestrated” by elements within the Pakistani establishment to facilitate back-channel talks with “willing” Taliban commanders. This line of thinking presupposes a scenario in which the Pakistanis “brought in” Mullah Baradar under a pre-arranged pact with the CIA to pave the way for negotiations. If true, this may indicate a serious move towards a negotiated settlement of the Afghan imbroglio.”

Flashback: NATO, Afghan troops launch largest air assault of Afghan war | Afghanistan conference agrees on exit timetable, Taliban bailout | General McChrystal indicates talks with Taliban to be discussed

BBC News
Febuary 17, 2010

Rehman Malik denied US agents had been involved in the capture

The US has hailed the capture of the Afghan Taliban military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, as a “big success” for US-Pakistani cooperation.

A White House spokesman confirmed the capture for the first time, saying it was a significant development.

Pakistan earlier confirmed the capture which was reported on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik added that other suspects had been arrested in the swoop “seven to 10 days ago” and were being interrogated.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is said to have overseen Taliban military operations in Afghanistan, run the group’s leadership council, and controlled its finances.

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Don’t run! We are your friends!

Flashback: NATO’s novel battle tactic spawns opposite effects as 12 civilians killed | German army chief resigns over Afghanistan air strike | NATO pledges probe of deadly Afghan air strike; civilians killed | Afghan Airstrike Video Goes Down the Memory Hole | New Afghan mission commander vows to protect civilians | US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians | NATO denies air strike killed Afghan civilians

James Meikle, Declan Walsh, Stephen Bates, The Guardian
February 15, 2010

A Nato airstrike against suspected insurgents has killed five civilians in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan today.

A Nato statement said a joint patrol of Nato and Afghan troops saw individuals digging along a path in the Zhari district of Kandahar province today and mistakenly concluded that they were planting an improvised explosive device. Two civilians were also wounded in the strike.

The incident follows the deaths yesterday of 12 Afghan civilians, who were killed by two stray Nato rockets in neighbouring Helmand province.

Major General Michael Regner, Isaf’s joint command deputy chief of staff for joint operations, said: “We regret this tragic accident and offer our sympathies to the families of those killed and injured.

“Our combined forces take every precaution to minimise civilian casualties, and we will investigate this incident to determine how this happened.”

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Flashback: German army chief resigns over Afghanistan air strike | NATO pledges probe of deadly Afghan air strike; civilians killed | Afghan Airstrike Video Goes Down the Memory Hole | New Afghan mission commander vows to protect civilians | US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians | NATO denies air strike killed Afghan civilians

Josh Wingrove, The Globe and Mail
February 14, 2010

In Maraj, 12 civilians were killed as rocket goes astray; in Nad Ali, residents fled

Though somewhat unusual, the strategy was at least straightforward: Before executing a massive attack on Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, NATO would get the word out.

Leaflets warning about a looming offensive were dropped in the two target areas: Marjah and Nad Ali. Coalition commanders hoped civilians and Taliban alike would leave, minimizing casualties. The coalition showed its hand, and hoped for the best.

The effects of that approach began to come to light Sunday, as NATO and Afghan National Army forces continued their fight to wrest Marjah and Nad Ali from Taliban control one day after launching one of the biggest attacks since the start of the Afghan war.

In Nad Ali, coalition forces encountered what they had been hoping for – nothing. Forty helicopters from three countries dropped in 1,100 troops exactly on schedule, with no casualties.

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